Archive for the 'Joan Baez' Tag Under 'Soundcheck' Category

Score another major win for the bustling Observatory. Already the local pace-setter for modern music in an up-close setting, the Little O.C. Club That Could just nabbed a gem that might otherwise have landed in Los Angeles or San Diego: a warm-up gig from Morrissey.

The rabidly revered indie icon, soon to turn 55, will precede his one-off teaming with Tom Jones at L.A. Sports Arena on May 10 with a May 8 set at the roughly 1,000-capacity Santa Ana spot. Both performances arrive in anticipation of his 10th solo album, World Peace Is None of Your Business, expected by July, maybe sooner.

His Observatory stop, which undoubtedly will sell out in minutes when tickets ($75) become available March 28 at 10 a.m., isn’t an unprecedented booking – Moz has packed the Grove in Anaheim and the Smiths twice played Irvine Meadows in the mid-’80s. But it’s certainly the smallest place he’s ever headlined in Orange County, comparable in scale to his unusual booking a year ago at Hollywood High School (pictured). Regular opener Kristeen Young will be in tow.

Iggy Azalea: Morrissey’s May show may be the biggest fish the Observatory ever hooked, but the venue landed another hot commodity this week – a performance from this curvaceous Aussie rapper on her New Classic Tour, May 14, $35, on sale Friday at 10 a.m.

Usually the last to fit a piece into the annual summer performance puzzle, Nederlander Concerts, that L.A. landmark’s operator, has revealed its initial fare for 2014 – and it’s a considerably expanded menu. With Gibson Amphitheatre now merely a memory, many of the shows that Universal CityWalk location used to host – chiefly Latin and international offerings like Alejandra Guzmán and Charles Aznavour but also alt-rock gigs that might have played either place – have instead found a home at the Greek.

What used to be called the Premier Marquee Club, then, has been renamed the Premier Access Season Subscription, or P.A.S.S. Among the schedule’s highlights are return visits from New Order (July 13, with La Roux) and Tori Amos (July 23), a spotlight on resurrected singer-songwriter Rodrigruez (May 30), an enticing teaming of ZZ Top with Jeff Beck (Aug. 13) and a blues-rock blowout from Tedeschi Trucks Band and Gary Clark Jr. (Nov. 1), a folkie’s dream featuring Joan Baez and Indigo Girls (July 3), an evening with Smokey Robinson (Aug. 16) and a pair of events hosted by Go Country 105, one led by Dierks Bentley (July 25), the other by Jake Owen (Aug. 8).

During Emmylou Harris and Rodney Crowell’s show at the Troubadour, the club was variously described as “hallowed ground,” a “university” for songwriters, a room where history has been made. They made a little more Saturday, hosting an evening featuring an all-star lineup of guests: John Fullbright, Zac Brown, Shannon McNally, Joan Osborne, Damien Rice, J.D. Souther, Sean Camp, Bonnie Raitt and Joan Baez.

As Harris noted, to call the evening a treat “would be an understatement.”

It unfolded in an agreeably informal and, yes, understated manner, closer to the “guitar pulls” made famous by Nashville’s Bluebird Café than a concert, with performers called to the stage, taking one of six seats, playing a song or two and perhaps telling a story in between, then taking their leave, making room for the next guest. Such gatherings don't often happen the night before the Grammy Awards, however.

Just a trivial aside, but within the context of this particular gig, so soon into the celebrated band's first tour behind its widely acclaimed second album, Helplessness Blues (Sub Pop), Pecknold's (pseudo?)-nervously conducted survey was telling all the same.

Here he was, having already impressively wafted through the light instrumental plucking of "The Cascades," followed by the new disc's final cut, "Grown Ocean," and the hugely harmonic Sun Giant track "Drops in the River," trying to engage the audience (those who could hear him, anyway) in endearing but awkward off-the-cuff banter. Almost as if mock-assuring himself that this was indeed his audience -- and that the rapturous, encore-worthy cheers immediately emanating from all corners of the packed ballroom weren't just overly polite gestures.

Every year the usual e-mail arrives just after Grammy nominations are announced. Every year it fascinates me. And every year I still feel like I'm the only one who cares. Apart from the honorees themselves, that is. Assuming they're still alive.

In any case, here it is: the 2011 inductees into the Grammy Hall of Fame, which the Recording Academy established in 1973 "to honor recordings of lasting qualitative or historical significance that are at least 25 years old. Recordings are reviewed annually by a special member committee of eminent and knowledgeable professionals from all branches of the recording arts, and final approval is made by the Recording Academy Trustees."

Among this year's notables are Prince's Purple Rain album from 1984, the Jackson 5's immortal 1970 single "I'll Be There," Jimmy Cliff's moving 1969 mainstay "Many Rivers to Cross," Willie Nelson's 1980 hit "On the Road Again," Harry Chapin's father-and-son parable "Cat's in the Cradle" from 1974, Fats Domino's 1960 staple "Walking to New Orleans" and, in a fitting nod to the late Alex Chilton, his breakthrough smash with the Box Tops in 1967, "The Letter."

Oh, and there's almost always a Beatles recording on the list -- this time it's "Penny Lane."

The addition of these 30 titles brings the complete Hall of Fame roster up to 881 entries, which are on display at the Grammy Museum in the L.A. Live complex. Click below for this year's selections.

For reasons I can't remember now, I missed small-scale appearances from the duo of actress-singer Zooey Deschanel (She) and the acclaimed singer-songwriter M. Ward (Him) when they issued their simply named sophomore album Volume Two on St. Patrick's Day – and I found myself at the wrong end of the Empire Polo Field when they sauntered on at Coachella in mid-April.

This, their Bowl debut (as with everyone else involved, save for Ward, who played his own set last summer), would likely be an ideal encounter, as it would for the Bird and the Bee, the sophisticated but kitschy-charming electro-pop (heavy on the pop) pairing of vocalist Inara George and multi-instrumentalist (and now Grammy-nominated producer) Greg Kurstin, who these days are touting an enjoyable nine-track tribute to Hall & Oates, presumably the first in a series of salutes to songwriting masters.

Yet, though both of those acts served up solidly enjoyable sets highlighted by some mighty belting (Deschanel on a set-closing version of the Screamin' Jay Hawkins staple “I Put a Spell on You,” George hitting big notes on “My Love”) and plenty of playful antics (Ward led a raucous rendition of Chuck Berry's “Roll Over, Beethoven,” George and the four women in her group indulged cutesy choreography in sparkly go-go mini-dresses and colored tights), there was absolutely no question who the star of Sunday's sold-out show was.

The Swell Season (above), principally Glen Hansard (frontman for Irish band the Frames) and Czech-born pianist-vocalist Markéta Irglová, turned in such a rich, riveting performance, it suggests the group is only beginning to hit its stride.

“It's such a great roster with so many artists that I respect on it,” Clark said during a recent phone interview. “I'm super-duper happy to be on it and I feel like it's a label that will really understand me and my music. They have a lot of artists who write really good lyrics, and they've let them just be who they are.”

Just four days after signing that deal, a genuinely surprised Clark and her band accepted the award for best pop at the 2010 OC Music Awards at the Grove of Anaheim.

“It was awesome,” she says enthusiastically. “I was really totally shocked. We didn't have any expectations. We have standards and hopes and dreams, but I feel like being in this industry as long as I have, having super high expectations can really ... it can really break your heart.

My body has been nowhere but home this week, but my head has been at Woodstock pretty much all month.

Most anytime driving in the car. Whenever I've gone to bed or napped with my 1 year old. While I work, when I take lunch –- or prattle on endlessly late at night, wearing out the keys on my laptop like I am now.

But this week, well, it's turned to obsession. With the 40th anniversary actually upon us, and miraculously no shows of major merit standing between me and Depeche Mode's debut at the Hollywood Bowl Sunday night, I've finally been able to tune out all other noise and really get lost.